A short story...

Once upon a time, there was a kindergarten teacher who loved her job...most of the time. She loved teaching children their letters because she knew that would lead to teaching them to read. She loved teaching children numbers because she knew that would lead to adding and counting money and telling time. She loved teaching art and poetry and songs. She loved new crayons and glue sticks and even the smell of new Play Doh. She loved teaching. But she didn't love child care. You see, every afternoon, this kindergarten teacher gathered all the school's preschool students into her classroom to provide child care for working moms and dads. And as much as she loved each little soul who walked through her door, she did not love all that it entailed to care for them. She did not love the fight to get them to be still at rest time. She did not love the bickering over toys or the tattling. She did not love the mess that the whirlwind of 18 preschoolers left in its wake at the end of each day. And this teacher, as much as she fought it, began to have a bad attitude about her job. She didn't like that. She wanted to be happy about the place God had placed her. She wanted to laugh and play and make school fun for all her students--morning and afternoon. So she decided to make some changes. She was going to be more consistent and firm about the rules. She was going to have more structure for the students to follow. And she was going to pray really hard for each little child in her care and for herself to have more patience with them. She wondered if it would make a difference. She hoped, for all their sakes, that it would.